The Man With Night Sweats By Thom Gunn

Question 1

Context

Answer 1

Written in the 1980s
During an AIDS epidemic amongst gay communities
Widespread fear of the disease and discrimination
Night sweats are a symptom of AIDS

Question 2

Structure

Answer 2

Strict rhyme scheme and alternating stanza length between 2 and 4 lines
(Short stanzas reflect the panic he feels)
(Contrast between the strict structure and his anxiety - represents him trying to order his thoughts)

Question 3

‘I woke up cold, I who
Prospered through dreams of heat
Wake to their residue,
Sweat, and a clinging sheet.’

Answer 3

Repetition of I: sense of intimacy and personal experience
‘Prospered’: succeed and escape the nightmare of having AIDS - contrasted by the residue left
Contrast between cold and heat: his fear that ‘freezes’ him contrasted to physical heat of his sweating
‘Residue’ is the sweat, it is unwanted and the remains of his fear of the disease
“Clinging sheet” represents his fear that clings to him and is inescapable

Question 4

My flesh was its own shield:
Where it was gashed, it healed

Answer 4

Change to past tense: the past tranquility of not worrying about his health
Metaphor: compares his body to a shield - armour that used to protect him, not anymore

Question 5

I grew as I explored
The body i could trust
Even while i adored
The risk that made robust

Answer 5

Explored: finding his sexuality
Confessional tone
“Trust” his body could protect him and guide him and he didnt have to be worried about it, instead he could focus on finding his identity and sexuality
Risk: the epidemic, he used to love his experiences with past lovers while he explored yet now he’s too afraid to be with them from the risk of getting AIDS.

Question 6

A world of wonders in
Each challenge to the skin

Answer 6

Enjambment from previous stanza: represents hus anxiety and constant thoughts that he tries to order
World of wonder: sexual liberation
The challenge: made him begin to lack certainty that his body could protect him from the disease and heal itself like it used to (FIGURATIVE: the experiences challenge his certainty of his skin and body as a shield to danger)

Question 7

I cannot but be sorry
The given shield was cracked
My mind reduced to a hurry,
My flesh reduced and wrecked.

Answer 7

Self pitying tone
SHIFT: his shield is being broken down
“Hurry” anxiety
“Flesh” open to harm/ fragile and vulnerable
Repetition of reduced: he became smaller and weaker both mentally and physically - the anxiety and sickness is consuming him literally
CONTRAST between the shield and his new vulnerability: emphasises how broken down he’s become

Question 8

I have to change the bed,
But catch myself instead

Answer 8

Mention of mundane chores contrasts the surrealistic nature of his anxiety and fear - emphasis on his weakness and how he’s using mundane things to distract himself

Question 9

Stopped upright where I am
Hugging my body to me
As if to shield it from
The pains that will go through me,

Answer 9

Abrupt stop represents hi fear that paralyzes him
“Hugging” he has to give himself affection because no one else will out of the widespread fear (context)
CONTRAST: his body used to protect him, but now he is trying to protect his body and ‘shield’ it from the pain - emphasises how broken his body feels

Question 10

As if hands were enough
To hold an avalanche off.

Answer 10

Sudden pause of rhyme scheme : chaos and loss of control - represents his fear and lack of safety
Desperate tone: trying to do anything to avoid the pain, even the most unrealistic measures
Avalanche metaphor: represents the disease that is all consuming and dangerous like an avalanche - shows how he cant hug himself to health and is slowly spiraling